Cubs endure worst loss of season

Friday

Jul 27, 2007 at 12:01 AMJul 27, 2007 at 2:47 AM

ST. LOUIS — Cubs fall apart in 11-1 loss to Cardinals

By Jeff Vorva

Braden Looper moved with his family from Florida to Palos Heights a few years ago, and for the most part, the St. Louis pitcher likes it in the south suburbs.
But he said he’s not very fond of some of the traffic he encounters — especially on LaGrange Road.
When he is on the job, he doesn’t like to see a lot of traffic from opponents on the basepaths. He didn’t have much to worry about Thursday night, joining the Cardinals’ offense in an 11-1 whipping of the Cubs in front of a Busch Stadium crowd of 45,308.
The 10-run setback was the Cubs’ worst beating this season.
The Cubs (53-47) won two of three from the Cardinals, but failed to pounce on an opportunity to pull to within one game of National League Central-leading Milwaukee and to overtake San Diego for the lead in the National League wild-card race.
The Cubs had been sluggish on offense before Thursday’s game, scoring just 11 runs in their previous four games, but they might have been thrown even more out of sync when batting practice was moved up 20 minutes to 5:55 p.m. rather than 5:35, the time they had taken batting practice on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Whether it was an innocent pregame scheduling quirk or Cardinals manager Tony La Russa trying to play mind games with the North Siders, the Cubs fell flat, scratching out seven hits.
Looper allowed one run — a Derrek Lee solo home run in the sixth — on five hits in seven innings to improve to 8-8.
Former Cardinals pitcher Jason Marquis, who was 2-0 in two starts against his ex-teammates this year, struggled in his third try, giving up six runs in five innings — the backbreaker coming when Chris Duncan hit a grand slam over the right-field wall and into the Cards’ bullpen in the fifth inning. Marquis also gave up four walks and hit a batter to fall to 7-6.
Marquis has just two wins since May 9.
Rookie Cubs pitcher Billy Petrick added fuel to the fire, giving up four runs in the sixth to jack up his ERA from 4.15 to 7.41.
At that time Cubs manager Lou Piniella had seen enough. He substituted freely, putting Ronny Cedeno at third base for the first time in his career, letting rookie Jake Fox play first base for a few innings and putting catcher Koyie Hill in right field.
The Cubs defense also had its share of poor moments. Shortstop Ryan Theriot had a 346-inning errorless streak at the position snapped because of a throwing error in the eighth. His last error at short had come on April 27, also at Busch Stadium.
The Cubs, who have won 20 of their last 29 games, now hope to regroup in Cincinnati, where a three-game trip begins tonight.
Marquis was lifted after throwing 86 pitches because he was ineffective. But cutting down pitch counts has become a priority with Piniella.
The Cubs have been solid in most areas, but Piniella is concerned with keeping his starting pitchers healthy. Last week, he pulled ace Carlos Zambrano after five innings and 80 pitches because the Cubs owned a 9-0 lead over San Francisco.
On Wednesday, he pulled Ted Lilly after seven innings and 89 pitches because the Cubs had a 6-1 lead over St. Louis.
“We’re thin in our rotation and it’s an area we need to stay healthy in,” Piniella said. “We’re thinking of keeping them nice and strong. The weather is going to turn a little warmer in August and we want to keep these guys fresh. At the same time, we realize we’re not six or seven deep, rotation wise. So let’s keep these kids as strong as possible.
“We’ve been giving them (an extra) day (of rest) whenever possible. August is probably the toughest month to pitch. In September, the weather starts cooling off again. You need some reserve in your tank.”
With hard-headed players such as Zambrano and Lilly, it might be tough to convince them it’s for their own good.
“I don’t need to convince anybody. I just need to get somebody else in the game.” Piniella said. “But I talk to these guys. They understand it. It serves a dual function. You can keep your bullpen sharp, too.”
More Cubs coverage is at www.dailysouthtown.com/sports.

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